K Darblyne - Unbroken Season 1

Reaching the top of the stairs and heading down the hallway, Sam called out to her roommate, “C.C.,” she turned the corner of the hall and looked into the kitchen. “C.C., I need you to take me home. I’m not going to let her continue with this charade.”

The brunette looked up from her coffee cup and asked, “What? What are you talking about? What charade?”

“SAM!” Brooke’s voice carried into the kitchen, causing her sister to become concerned.

“Home, C.C., dorm room…that’s where I want to be.” The blonde was in her face now. “So are you going to get me there or do I start walking?”

The startled woman tried to understand what was going on but didn’t have a clue. Before she could utter a single word, Brooke came bursting into the room at a full run, then stopped short seeing that Sam was still there.

“Wait, don’t go, Sam. Please?” she pleaded as she entered the room.

Sam pivoted her position and now glared at the tall woman, “Or what, Brooke…you’ll turn into James or Peter too?”

“Damn it, Sam, that’s not fair,” Brooke’s voice showed her anger.

“Oh, and look who’s crying not fair.” Sam turned back to her roommate demanding an answer, “C.C.?”

Brooke stood watching. “I told you there were things you needed to know about me…” her words trailed off to a whisper.

C.C. got up and walked over to her sister, “Look, let me borrow your car and find out what’s up.” The woman kept her voice down as she stole a glance back at Sam. “I’ll see where she’s coming from…”

“Need to know?” Sam’s anger now exploded. “Like what… that you’re some lunatic?”

“And you’re a saint?” Brooke clenched her fists and then released them. “I guess you lied to me then, when you told me that nothing I could ever tell you would make you feel any differently toward me.”

The blonde crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot as she glared first at C.C., then back to Brooke. “Oh, you mean that you monitor all your personalities? Great! Then tell them all good-bye from me.”

The older woman stood shell-shocked for a moment as her eyes started to tear up. “Well, if that’s what you really want…” Brooke moved over toward the counter, grabbing the keys from it. With a sigh of defeat, she turned toward her sister and threw the keys in her direction, then left the room, heading back toward the studio.

Seeing that Brooke had given up, Sam called out after her, and then moved toward the kitchen door. “No, it’s not what I wanted, but it’s what I’m doing.”

Not sure of whom to follow, C.C. watched as both women walked out different doors. “God, I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s obviously fucked up,” she mumbled. Then, grabbing a tighter hold on the keys in her hand, she followed Sam out the kitchen door.

“…When we cry I know where to place the blame and reasons why are given but that’s only part of the game. And all is forgiven…”

It was a different atmosphere in the 300Z now than the last time she rode in the car. Sam sat quietly staring out the window as her mind tried to reason out the events of the last forty minutes or so. God, what happened there? One minute I’m in love and the next minute I feel… The blonde mused over what it was that she was feeling at this time. She still didn’t know for sure. Is it betrayal that I’m feeling or is it just disappointment in a relationship gone sour? Sam closed her eyes and thought of crying to relieve the pain. She bit back on her lip and sniffed, trying to hold the tears at bay.

Noticing the near breakdown of her roommate, C.C. broke the ice and started to speak. “Okay, will you please tell me what in the hell is going on here?” The brunette pulled up to the stop sign and looked over to her friend, “What happened?”

“What happened?” Sam mimicked C.C., “You wanna’ know what happened?” The blonde turned and looked at C.C., “I want to know about what kind of game she’s playing, telling me she’s Loran.” Green eyes pleaded, “Why didn’t you tell me she’s psychotic…or delusional?”

“You’re wrong Sam, she is Loran,” C.C. said with the straightest face she possessed.

“Yeah, and I’m Sam Adams, but that doesn’t make me a beer now, does it?” The blonde looked away before her question was answered.

“Sam, my sister, Brooke…” C.C. acknowledged the horn tooting at her from behind and shot the driver an obscene hand gesture before she pulled out from the stop sign as she continued her explanation. “She is Brooke Loran from Anti-Zero. Why don’t you believe her?”

“Okay, I can see that this is some sort of family game. So, who are you then…Christina Aguilera?” Sam crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head to stare out the side window, “And no, I don’t believe her.”

“We…” C.C. started then changed her mind, “I hate to break it to you then, because it’s your loss. She’s not lying to you and neither am I.”

“Okay, so you’re Pink then,” Sam looked at the woman long enough to smile insincerely, then turned back toward the blurred countryside.

“You know,” the driver tried to control her anger. “An hour ago you were so in love with my sister,” C.C. bit her lower lip to refrain from what she was going to say. “I’ve never seen her any happier than she’s been in the last few weeks with you. We’ve been trying to get her to come out of that shell of hers and finally fucking live for over three years now. That band was her life and when it died, part of her died along with it.”

“Well, apparently she brought some friends with her,” Sam snapped.

“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“C.C.,” Sam paused for only a second, her green eyes flashing with fury before saying, “Just drive, I don’t want to think any more.”

The brunette took in a deep breath before she spoke, “You know Sam, I love you like I love my real sisters.” She stole a glance at her passenger, “I really do.”

“But?” came Sam’s off-the-cuff reply.

“But, so help me God, if anything happens to Brooke because you’re too fucking stubborn to listen to her…” C.C. drew in a breath as she came to a stop in the line of traffic. “You’ll regret the day you met me.”

“I’m beginning to regret that now.” Sam muttered under her breath, “you and your set ups. Yeah… sure, why not threaten me, too?”

Brown eyes leveled a cold stare at the blonde. “Yeah? Well, you were more than willing to go along with it, weren’t you?” C.C. turned her eyes back to the traffic, “She finally started to enjoy living again because of you and if you’ve taken that away from her…”

“Me, take that away? What did you expect me to do?” Sam turned on a sweeter sounding voice filled with false empathy, “Sure, Honey, it’s okay if you want to be Loran tonight. Go right ahead.”

“Damn it, Sam!” C.C. hit the steering wheel with her open hand, and then followed the line of cars down the street. “What in the name of hell will it take for you to believe her?”

Sam sat quietly, still shocked by her roommate’s display of frustration.

“Do you think someone forged those gold and platinum albums in that hallway downstairs? You think she made them up just to impress you?”

“What albums?” Sam’s mind reran her stored images of the hallway and kept coming up empty at the mention of gold and platinum albums.

The car reacted violently to the jerk of the wheel as C.C. pulled the 300Z off onto the side of the highway, then turned to look the stunned woman in the face. “Damn it, Sam. Right past the studio doors are two gold and three platinum albums. AND two Grammys. Hell, there’s even MTV Video Music Awards with pictures of her and all of us girls with Mom and Dad at each of the ceremonies.” C.C. watched helplessly as vacant-looking green eyes stared back at her.

“I never saw any…” Sam brought her hand up to her face as she began to think back on that first day at Brooke’s house and the guided tour. She didn’t let me get down that far. She got me into that studio without ever letting me finish looking at those pieces of memorabilia. The blonde sat silent as she realized why Brooke had taken that detour into the studio at the first opportunity.

C.C. sat back in her seat and let her thoughts come to her lips, “How in the hell do you think a thirty year old can afford that house? What about the land? This car? And buy her own business?” The brunette shrugged as she corrected herself, “Well, start her own business.”

“She told me that she invested wisely…” Sam whispered.

“Yeah, with the royalty checks she received from the record company.” C.C. smirked at the difference there was between her sister and the other members of the group. “James and Peter just pissed theirs away on all of their little flavors of the week and what do they have now? Nothing. Not a God-damned thing.” C.C. slapped the visor down in emphasis to what she was saying.

The quick, aggressive motion accentuated by the loud thump drew Sam’s attention, immediately causing her to catch a glimpse of something falling from where the visor had been in place. Sam shook her head in disbelief. “Well, I guess I know where she keeps her real identification at. You know, she tried telling me to look in her wallet. What was that going to prove? Hell, I even carry a fake I.D. in my wallet. Every college student carries a fake I.D. around…”

“Sam,” C.C. turned to address her roommate, “she isn’t a college student. Brooke is 30 years old.” The brunette reached down to pick up the fallen articles. “What the…” she muttered as a smile started to come to her face. “Okay, you said that you knew where she keeps her real identity now, right?” C.C. stared at the items in her hand.